Conversations in the Lifestream
by colormecrayon
Summary: A reunion between Zack and Aerith leads to many, many conversations. Divided into 5 parts.


GAHHHH. It's been years and I'm _slightly_ coming back into fanfiction. I'll try to work on the other stories as best as I can. I started my first two stories my sophomore year in high school and now I'm in college so the work load is a wee bit different.

I'm sorry if there are any plot mistakes – I haven't played FF7 in awhile (a very long while..7 or 8 years ago) but I recently have finished Crisis Core. I know there are similar fanfictions out there but in my head I just kept thinking, "Could Zack and Aerith possibly fall in love again in the Lifestream?"

I hope you enjoy this oneshot, I don't own anything except for the plot!

* * *

**PART 1**

"Hellloooo? Anybody in there?"

I couldn't help but say that to her. After all, it was the first thing she said to me when we first met. She opened her eyes slowly and stared at my face looming down at her.

"It's really you, Zack…"

I gave an inward chuckle. "Yeah, it's me. I told you I'd see you soon didn't I? I guess not as soon as I hoped to though. It HAS been five years."

She looked at the ground…or, what could be the ground. Living in the Lifestream was hard to explain.

"Are…are Cloud and the rest alright? Did my spell work?"

Even after death, she was still thinking about Cloud.

"Don't worry about it Aerith. You should know Cloud. He'll be fine. The world will be fine. You've done enough worrying. Just relax."

And that is exactly what she did.

* * *

**PART 2  
**

"So what is there to do in the Lifestream? You think I would know, me being an Ancient and all…but I don't." Aerith had this confused, innocent look on her face I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"I don't do much. I have conversations with other dead friends here and there, but most of the time I like to be alone."

Aerith looked so astonished to my response. She was probably wondering how a guy as lively as me could be dead when…dead. But it was true. The Lifestream gave me the alone time I always needed. "Don't you ever get lonely?"

"Not really. I've been watching over you and Cloud since I've died. I've been like your guardian angel. You should thank me!"

"…well, thank you Zack. Even though I did end up dying in the end."

We both laughed at this. Death shouldn't have been such a light subject but it seemed to be so at that moment.

* * *

**PART 3**

"I can't believe you fell in love with my best friend."

Aerith turned around when she heard me speak.

"Come again?"

"I don't know if you know, but I died coming home to you. The moment that Angeal clone brought your letter to me I knew I had to come see you. But…I died. Just for you. And you end up falling for Cloud."

She walked up to me slowly. Could it have been any slower? I immediately regretted saying those words. To be honest, I was scared of what she was going to say next. Before I knew it more words were spewing out of my mouth.

"While watching over you, I heard that conversation you and Cloud first had together. Did you really not think of us as a serious couple Aerith? Did you really believe that I would run off with another woman?"

I don't know what got into me, but my words seemed to hold some malice in them. I couldn't help it.

"I was thinking about you the entire time, Aerith. But it seems you weren't doing the same."

She was getting closer to me and suddenly a sharp feeling swept across my face. I hadn't realized she slapped me until she spoke.

"And what made you think I wasn't thinking about you either?! How do you think _I_ felt?! I wrote you so many letters. 89 letters and no reply. 4 years with no knowledge of where you were. Do you know how heartbroken I was?"

She clenched her fists as tears began running down her face. "You were my life, Zack. I loved you more than anything. And you disappeared. What was I supposed to believe? You've been a womanizer for so long. How could I say we were a serious couple when I never knew if you were loyal to me and only me? And my fears came to life when you never came home."

"Aerith, I died –"

"But I didn't_ know_ that! I thought that you left me! The only thing I could do was move on. And I did move on. I met Cloud. He was the exact opposite of you, but he made me happy. He truly made me smile. You're not doing that for me right now."

She walked away into another section of the Lifestream.

"Just leave me alone Zack."

* * *

**PART 4**

Some time had passed in the Lifestream. I could say it felt like a few days, but I lost track of time once I've died. However, it was enough for me to confront Aerith.

"Hey Aerith."

She looked up from her spot on the ground.

"Hi Zack."

"Look, I'm really so– "

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so angry. Just please don't ever doubt the love I had for you. It was there. I just had to move on." I took a seat next to her.

"I can say the same then. I know I like to talk to girls but none ever compared to you Aerith. I'm sorry for making you feel that way for so many years."

"Hey, Zack?" She looked me straight in the eye. "What do you think would happen if you did make it home? What would happen to me? Or to us?"

I thought about it for a few moments then said, "We'd probably get married. I went back to Midgar with that intention, actually. As for what would happen to you…Shinra would probably still be after you. But I would be the one to protect you from them. Things probably would have played out similarly to what really happened. But we'd be together at least. You wouldn't have fallen in love with Cloud."

She smiled at me. "Really? _The_ Zack Fair wanting to settle down? Now that's a first. I know I loved Cloud, but I don't' know if I was _in love_ with him. He really reminded me of you. Falling through the roof, saying he was 1st Class. He was the next best thing to you. I really grew to love him. He made my heart skip a beat and gave me butterflies. But I don't know if you can call that real romantic love. I liked him very much though."

"Well then enlighten me Miss Gainsborough, what is 'real romantic love'?"

"Knowing all the sides of one person. Loving them for who they are. Experiencing all emotions with them. Stuff like that. Stuff that I had with you."

It was silent for awhile. A little awkward I would say if it were anybody else, but this was Aerith.

"Aerith, I still love you. For so damn long I've loved you. I know we're both kinda well…dead, but we can still make this work. Maybe we can manipulate the Lifestream somehow to create a ring and some flowers and we can get married. And I can have Angeal perform the ceremony for us. And maybe some of my other friends from SOLDIER who're here as well can be our guests. Well if that's okay with you I mean–hey don't laugh at me, I'm serious!"

Aerith was giggling out of control. I hadn't seen her like this since our time together. I took it as a good sign.

"No, no I know you're serious. It's just that I haven't seen you so worked up over something since the flower cart we made together."

"Do you…do you want to marry me? Or will you? Wait do you still love me? I'm confused. Ah, I'm not very good at this…"

"If I didn't love you, I don't think I would've gotten so mad at your accusations of me. I was hurt that you accused me of not loving you when that's all I ever did for five years..."

"I don't get it."

"You are so dense!" Aerith stroked my face and gently placed a kiss on my lips. "I love you," she whispered softly. "I want to spend more time with you. Let's get married."

It was the sweetest kiss we've ever shared. Our second one, actually. But first, second, or one hundredth – it didn't matter. All I knew was that I wanted to kissed like that for as long as my soul lived on in the Lifestream.

* * *

**PART 5**

We somehow made it work. Aerith used her Ancient powers to manipulate the Lifestream into creating what we had in mind for our ceremony. It was nothing big; as promised, Angeal was our "priest" and my friends were our guests.

Sometime after our "wedding", we laid in each others arms.

"Hey, Zack?"

I looked down at her smiling face. "What's up?"

"How do you think Cloud and them are doing?"

"…Now that you mention it, since you came here I haven't been watching over him. But I can sense he's doing fine. He'll save the world. Stop worrying and relax."

And in his arms, that is exactly what Aerith did.

* * *

This turned out a bit on the fluffy side. I hope you guys still enjoyed! Also, Zack & Aerith's sense of time is way off from real world time. Zack assumed that it had been a few days because it felt like it, but it probably wasn't. That's why at the end Cloud and the rest hadn't defeated Sephiroth yet. I just didn't want to have to deal with Sephiroth entiring the Lifestream and ruining their wedding! ^_^

Reviews would be nice! Please no flames :)


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